Hardwick Hall

Discussion in 'Airborne' started by Drew5233, Jun 17, 2012.

  1. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Hi

    I knew about the Clay Cross link and it's only a few miles from me. (I actually shop at Clay Cross Tesco.) I got talking to an elderly local couple last month at Hardwick. The lady said her dad was in a band that came to play for the troops. I mentioned Clay Cross during our chat and they said there were soldiers based at the Drill Hall which is now Chesterfield Snooker Centre on the A61 just before Clay Cross from Chesterfield.
    I borrowed a library book and found the following pics and info:

    12.jpg
    This gun placed outside the old Territorial Drill Hall was a First World war trophy and was one of ten German guns captured at Canal du Nord by the 6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, and was received at Clay Cross, 5 June 1920. Brig-Gen. Jackson said 'It would be an everlasting memento to the achievements of 'G' Company, which had for so many years been associated with Clay Cross.

    13.jpg
    The New Drill Hall, situated on Chesterfield Road, was opened in November 1938 by Brig-Gen. Jackson. In 1935, there was much public protest about this 'everlasting memento' being dangerous after several children had been injured whilst playing on it, so the Clay Cross UDC decided that it should be removed. However, this did not happen until 1938 when it was placed in front of the New Drill Hall and then went for scrap towards the Second World War effort.



    On a shopping trip I stopped by and took a few pics:

    2016-03-17 11.25.36.jpg

    2016-03-17 11.24.12.jpg

    2016-03-17 11.22.07.jpg

    Spotted from inside, a young guy came out and I explained my interest. He (and they) didn't know much about the building's history. He did say he was told there were huts in the field at the back where the Army Cadets and Air Training Corps building is. Also the hall is where the snooker tables are. I didn't have time to go inside as my cod fillets were defrosting.

    I'm hoping to find more info.
     
  2. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Glen,

    Great Stuff! hope you got home with your cod fillets still solid - ha! The holding unit at Clay Cross may have been part of No. 1 AFHU which seems to have included a number of units and locations? The New Drill Hall according to a list of German POW Camps in the UK was No. 248 Camp

    "248 New Drill Hall, Clay Cross Derbyshire Eng Site Occupied by industrial estate."

    Not sure if the actual building was used or if the POW camp was located nearby. I may have some info on the Dore and Totley Battle/Tactical School location but will hold off for now.

    Regards ...
     
  3. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Hi I did find out that there was a rifle range at Totley I think during WW1. Here's a few more now pics I've attempted to look like the original ones I posted. PT Drag Training now.jpg Some tree lines and field boundaries are the same. The pit tip is now an industrial estate and the M1 carves through the valley and through the original road from Heath village. Log Training Location now.jpg I am too close for this pic but you can see the two trees in the foreground. These are part of the five trees you can see on the old birds-eye view photo. Land gets higher the further you get from the trees but I'm sure the original photographer was stood on something. Might have been the trapeze. Trapeze Location now.jpg This is roughly the location. I've tried to line it up with the tree in the background though there is only one left. Still finding remains. 2016-04-02 15.10.49.jpg This is the road up to the Hall and the left hand bend away from the camp. 2016-04-02 15.11.03.jpg A sign post base. Might not be WW2 but could have been to show where the airfield was. 2016-04-03 14.24.20.jpg Further on just before you join the straight road to the Hall on the right hand side. You'd miss it from the road. 2016-04-03 14.22.54.jpg There was just a corner exposed so I pulled up the turf to reveal the rest. It's a double brick base with single brick inter sections about 10 by 6 feet. Been told it was a sentry box for those entering by the camp and Rowthorne Drive, the straight road parallel to the airfield. Cheers
     
  4. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Most of these photos aren't new but may be of interest for being slightly better quality or taken from another angle revealing the background. Many books and sites mistake the Hardwick Hall Depot for Ringway.

    Log Training.jpg Tower - Landing.jpg Air Sickness Test.jpg Emplaning.jpg Trapeze-3.jpg The British Paratroopers In Action - Leroy Thompson.jpg

    Regards ...
     
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  5. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Hi

    I like Trapeze 3 pic as it shows the perimeter fence that shows on the overhead photo. You're right about Hardwick and Ringway being mixed up as I've read 'Hardwick Hall, Manchester' in one account. Here are a few more accounts that were in the folder I borrowed.

    CHESTERFIELD ADVERTISER, 12th May 1995

    Volunteers were put through strenuous physical training before going onto Ringway (now Manchester Airport) to qualify for their Parachutist Wings. By 1946 when the Paras moved to the Isle of Wight, 20,000 men had passed through Hardwick.
    The Camp which started off as a few red brick huts was transformed into the First Airborne Forces Depot with all the added amenities of a cinema, NAAFI Canteen, up to date cookhouse and a modern medical centre, most of which were run by the ATS.
    Also added to these was a camp church set up in one of the red brick huts. On April 21, 1943 the church was dedicated to the Bishop of Derby and became the Chapel of St George.
    Many senior army officers along with the camp padre attended the service and also present to augment the chapel choir of the depot troops, the ATS and V.A.D.s were choir boys from the local church.
    From outside the chapel looked like an ordinary but the inside was transformed into a warm and colourful setting. Centre of attraction was a beautiful altar frontal worked in a rich shade of red bearing a centrepiece in blue of the warrior Bellepheron mounted on the winged horse Pegasus, the now famous sign of the Airborne Forces.
    The Royal School of Needlework made the frontal piece and was greatly admired by the Royal Family.
    Other items of interest in the chapel was a figure of St George clad in armour and bearing a shield of the Cross of England and was depicted slaying the dragon.
    A private soldier of an Airborne Unit had gilded the altar cross and candlesticks and families of soldiers killed in action had also given gifts for the Chapel.
    Sadly, today no trace is left of where the chapel stood in the grounds of Hardwick or any of the interior decorations.
    Email from Jamie Bentley (Perth, Western Australia), 12 May 2004

    I actually joined the Parachute Regiment on VJ Day itself. Volunteering well before the atom bombs ended Japan's involvement.
    Got shunted down to the Isle of Wight with 1st Airborne Division. That was a three month course - with leave half way through and some attrition of course.
    Thence to Hardwick for the three-week course there. That would have been around November 1945. Bringing No 187 course into December. About 300 eager youngsters started in August, so were down to about 200 by then. Then there came a hiccup in the courses. Christmas was upon us. The war was over, senior officers were being de-mobbed. The next phase of training was to go to Ringway for the actual parachuting course.
    Back to Hardwick. I would estimate the lower camp could have held about a 1,000 troops. There were various courses going through at different stages of their training.
    So, come the middle, or thereabouts of December, there were the remnants of 187 course still down in the lower camp, but unable to go to Ringway, for some reason or another. So about two platoons, say 60 men, were sent up to the Airstrip to 'hibernate', (or mark time) until the Army and RAF sorted out their 1946 training programmes.
    This meant about 60, paratroops-to-be, went up to the now-nearly abandoned Air-strip that had served the SOE, as well as the embryo Parachute Regiment from the early 1940's. So there was the Army, with 60 troops on its hands, so sent us on leave for Christmas and New Year. (Lucky us)
    In the book "Para" by Peter Harclerode (Orion 1998) there are brief mentions of Hardwick Hall, there's a story how Hardwick came to acquire a tank used for exercises. It's battered remains stood on the left hand side of where the driveway enters the 'gardens'.
    However, in 1945, there were no gardens along that airstrip. It had all been flattened. On the left hand side, where the tank stood were two huts, billets alongside each other, under a stand of trees. While immediately across from the entrance, and airstrip, was the ablution block. The right hand side of the Airstrip was 'Out of Bounds". It was where the Hall stood, itself a grey, square barrack-like looking building.
    On early, cold, misty mornings the square form of the Hall itself, would rise in the mist, like a ghostly mansion. It was about half-way down to a stand of trees.
    Now what was unusual about this stand of tall trees, was the centre had been lopped off, half way up. So there was giant square 'cut' in them. We were told that this was to allow the planes to land and take off. Where the DZ would have been I don't know. But I feel the airstrip would have been too small for accuracy - but? Later, the actual parachuting part of the courses moved to RAF Ringway. But don't know any dates. The planes using the airstrip in those days would have been the early monoplane bombers, like the Whitley. The rear gun turret was removed, and platform installed. The parachutist faced forward. He pulled the rip-cord, and was dragged out and off. Later came the hole in the fuselage. Followed by converted Halifax and Stirling bombers, and finally the much-loved "Dakota", with its door exit.
    With an aperture exit there was a tradition that if you 'rang the bell', you had to buy a pint of beer for everybody on board. If you pushed yourself out too far, the face and head would hit the edge-rim of the aperture. If you didn't go out far enough, then the back of the parachute pack would hit the rim behind, with the same effect. Films showing aperture exits, sometimes show a body coming out with arms and legs flailing, instead of a nice posture. Another 'rule', that if you wanted to vomit, then it had to be done into the Red Beret! Bowel evacuation had to stay where it was. (Fortunately I was spared all fates).
    One of two more little snippets. The remnants of the Isle of Wight course arrived in the dark at Hardwick. The red brick huts lining the parade ground. In the morning our intake were confined to the billets. Looking out the windows we could see the whole camp, all but us had been paraded. There were odds and sods from all kinds of units. Two Red Caps were there, with Sten guns, were trying hard to maintain their corps' standard, while around them others were going 'through the motions' of their units' drills . Then a woman in a floral dress, battered face, hat, and handbag under arm, was being escorted through the Open Order Ranks, looking, looking, looking at faces, for what? Nobody told us anything. But the story was obvious.

    Childhood memories from Peter Goacher, Pilsley.

    During this time I lived with my family in Devonshire Terrace at Holmewood. Hardwick Park was my playground, just a short bike ride away from the grime of a pit village and the smell of the coke ovens.
    The army camp was built in the early 1940s for the Parachute Regiment. The area it occupied was to the right of the Blingsby gate down to the Five Row ponds. The main entrance to the camp was on the brow of the hill. There were rows of square brick huts where the soldiers were billeted, plus a gymnasium and cinema. The road through the camp went down towards the quarry entrance gate. Opposite the quarry was the M.I. room with walls painted white with a red cross. I remember a tall wooden cross was erected behind this building. There was also a building used as a Church, but many of the soldiers worshipped at Ault Hucknall church.
    On the left hand side of the park through Blingsby Gate were the N.C.O.s and Officers quarters. There was also a balloon with a basket attached, which was winched up and down on a cable. This was for jumping practice.
    At the top of the Park to the left of the Hall going down towards Rowthorne, there were rows of Nissen huts which were for R.A.F. personnel, both men and women. The women were employed folding the parachutes.
    Once a month, usually on a Saturday afternoon, several planes similar to Dakotas flew over the Park dropping the troops by parachute. Some of them landing in the trees.
    Near to the five Row Ponds there was a high wall which was the shooting range. There were also 8 large garages with roll-up doors for the lorries. The end garage had a short wall inside filled with sand. On scaffolding high up in the ceiling was a fuselage. This was used to practise jumping out of into the sand and landing safely.
    Most of the Regiment left the camp two weeks before D.DAY in 1944. I watched them leave from my bedroom window. They lined up in rows on the platform of Heath station, all with blackened faces, waiting for the trains to take them down South. It was all done with the utmost secrecy.
    At Rowthorne Station, the tunnel entrance was sealed by metal doors and used as an ammunition dump by another branch of the Army.
    Two German bombs fell on Hardwick Park during the war. One landed in an area near to the Grange and the other one on the side of the road going down to Rowthorne. Two bombs also fell at Stainsby, one killing a cow.
    After the war the camp was used to house displaced persons from Europe awaiting rehabilitation. After this, a contingent of the Polish army took over the Camp. Several of the men married local girls.
    The Camp was then dismantled, much of the rubble was dumped in a field near to the Oil Well Nursery at Tibshelf and then grassed over.
    For pocket money, while I was at school, I used to deliver groceries in the Co-op van from Holmewood to people living in the flats and houses in the Park.
    Some of my happiest memories are of the days I spent fishing in the ponds in the Park and visits to the fairground. This came to Hardwick every Whitsuntide. It was Albert Proctors Fairground from Nottingham. It was assembled in the field at the side of Hardwick Inn (part of which is now used as a car park). There were numerous rides and stalls. People came from all the surrounding villages, walking several miles to get there. If the weather was good, everyone brought a picnic and went into the Park to make it a day to remember.

    I love the idea that young Peter saw the soldiers kitted out at the railway station at the end of May '44 not knowing what momentous occasion would occur in a few weeks. He mentions the end garage with the fuselage and the photo of emplaning I'm assuming they brought the fuselage outside as you can see the garages in the background. Not sure about the high wall and shooting range yet.

    Cheers
     
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  6. Packhow75

    Packhow75 Senior Member

    Does anyone know what wireless set would have been used by OBLI to send the famous "Ham and Jam" message from Pegasus Bridge?

    Given a glider landing and then the distance they needed to transmit the message... was "Ham and Jam" broadcast verbally as the films would like us to believe... or infact transmitted via morse?

    Sets about that I can think of...

    WS19 - Vehicle set - not portable - so not an option IMO
    WS22 - Man-pack... though IMO too big and bulky for a coup-de-main assault force to consider, but should have the range required
    WS18/68 - Man-packs - Perhaps, but did they have the range required?
    WS38 - Man-pack - unlikely as too small with limited range
    WS76 - Man-pack - had the range, but Morse only

    Anyone know please?

    Many thanks

    Tim
     
  7. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Hi

    Here's another account from the folder:

    From Reflections June 2000: a magazine that reflects on Derbyshire’s heritage.

    Salute Their Memories with Pride by Lawton Slaney

    The glorious epics of Normandy and the Pegasus Bridge, Arnhem and Bruneval will always be remembered when we think of the Parachute Regiment. The courage and the sacrifice of thousands of paras who fought for us in the Second World War were commemorated on 14 May. Every one of them was trained in Derbyshire.
    In June 1940 Britain was in a bad way. The German army had swept across Europe, and was standing on France's Channel cliffs wondering if it would have time to do a bit of looting and pillaging on a weekend break in Paris before it set off westwards to sort us out once and for all.
    Prime Minister Winston Churchill, though, had other ideas, one of which was that attack is usually the best form of defence; and one of the memos he fired off to his defence chiefs on 22 June directed that they should investigate the possibility of forming a corps of, possibly, 5,000 parachute troops. This date is regarded as the birthday of the British Airborne Forces, and set in motion the events that would bring these forces to the grounds of Hardwick Hall for the next six years.
    The basic concept of paratroops is that they are delivered by an aircraft, and it was deemed that Ringway (now Manchester Airport) would be a good place from which to fly their planes. Some desk-bound genius in Whitehall looked at a map and decided from it that Hardwick would be a good place near to Ringway to train the troops, so this hilly, completely unsuitable spot was chosen as the base from which all our paratroops were trained for the next six years - all twenty-five thousand of them.
    So a camp was built down near the lakes east of the Hall, and No2 Commando regiment, already billeted at Ringway, became the 1st Parachute Regiment, and moved to Hardwick. The camp became a huge military complex, with brick-built barracks and a formidable perimeter fence. For the first months, training was a hit-and-miss affair. Life for the soldiers was dominated by the need to get them really fit, and Physical Training instructors from the Army moved in. There were two sessions a day of PT; the rest of their crowded schedule was spent in jumping from scaffolding towers, and a basket suspended from a static balloon which could be winched, with its nervous contents, to 600 feet. When they were considered capable of landing in one reasonable piece, the troops were taken to Ringway to do it for real - out of an aeroplane.
    The aircraft used was a Whitley bomber with a square hole cut into the floor. This lumbering aerial dinosaur, whose top speed downhill and with a following wind was 150mph, could accommodate only ten men. They sat, legs apart, five with their backs to the engine and the other five facing them, all as close to the man behind them as they could get. Between the two groups yawned the hole in the floor and the two unfortunates at the front of the lines hung on grimly just above the roaring slipstream - with nothing to separate them from the earth six hundred feet below. Tucked somewhere in the packed group were their parachutes. No, they didn't have back packs: the chutes and lines were loose, and as each man was urged out into the abyss, he fervently hoped his chute would follow him without getting tangled or snagging on part of the plane. Inevitably there were casualties.
    Then two heroes named Raymond Quilter and James Gregory designed the first parachute to be carried in a back-pack. It was attached to the aircraft by a static line which delayed the opening until the parachute was well clear of the plane. After a hectic period of adjustment the GQ X-type Statichute emerged and this remained in service till well after the war. The other significant improvement came with the introduction of the American Dakota to carry the paras and their equipment. This work-horse of the skies, which could also tow two gliders, remained in active service for years after the war.
    By the end of 1941 Hardwick Camp was described as 'a sad collection of red-brick huts surrounded by a high wire fence set in sloping parkland.' There were many complaints from senior officers that the PT was done so vigorously, and was so unsuited to parachuting that people got muscle-bound. Besides the endless physical training, the troops had mock-up fuselages to jump from, as well as air-sickness tests in a swingboat, and swinging from trapezes, but it was agreed that the end-product was a toughened athlete, physically and mentally alert. They now did pistol-firing in the quarry, field firing on Midhope Moor in the snow, street fighting in Sheffield, and tactical exercises among the coal-heaps at Heath.
    For the remainder of the war Hardwick was depot and school for all airborne forces - paratroops and gliders. An overflow camp of wooden huts was built at Clay Cross, and it was here that the paratroopers did their final battle training and awaited transfer to their units throughout the UK.
    The Government had always promised that all traces of the camp would be cleared away after hostilities ceased and, true to their word, the whole lot was bulldozed, To finish the clean-up the contractors offered to dredge the lakes, an operation which cleared up yet another wartime mystery. The troops, ready every weekend for a night out with the lads, would end up in the pubs of the surrounding villages; many of them found the prospect of walking back to camp a bit daunting, but they found bicycles on which they made their unsteady way back to camp.
    Realising that the presence of the bikes the following day would be a little incriminating, the borrowers threw them in the lakes. The dredgers found 633 bikes and four motor-bikes when they cleared up.
    All that remains now of six years' frenzied activity is a swathe of parkland and a simple memorial plaque to the thousands of airborne troops who wore the Red Beret with pride, and were killed in action between 1940 and 1946.
    At the annual memorial service at Hardwick on 14 May 2000, a lone Dakota flew low across the Hall in a defiant gesture of remembrance.
    Amongst the spectators were the fifty remaining survivors of the D-Day landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944. Of these I felt privileged to meet Ernest Southwell, 75, who dropped on Pegasus Bridge around midnight. In addition to his rifle and fixed bayonet, 150 rounds of ammunition, his pack and parachute, he carried two mortar bombs, extra Bren gun magazines, a pick and shovel - and a 100lb inflatable dinghy strapped to his right leg.
    "I felt like a penguin," he says: "my mates had to lift me into the Stirling."
    How did you manage to jump out when you got there, I asked him.
    "Jump out? I couldn't jump - I fell out."
    He landed safely, and joined his fellow-heroes to capture the bridge. His military career ended when he broke his back in a drop over Denmark, which put him in hospital for two years. We photographed him. proud and erect, with the Hall in the background. Ernest Southwell nudged me, and pointed to Bess of Hardwick's initials 'ES' carved in stone along the parapet. "They're not mine, you know," he said with a twinkle, "I just borrow them when I come here."
    He joined the parade headed by thirty standard bearers of the local sections of the Parachute Regiment Association, and we watched him march past, straight-backed and proud, despite his walking stick.
    I'm looking forward to seeing him again next year.

    I wonder if Ernest is still around and how many of the fifty are left.

    Another account but not dated.

    THE STAFFORD KNOT

    Downstairs at Hardwick Hall
    by Brigadier R. L. Hargroves, C.B.E., D.L.

    In 1940 the 80th returned from Nowshera in the North West Frontier Province of India to the U.K., and with 1 Border, 1 R.U.R. and 2 Ox. and Bucks., formed a brigade of seasoned regular troops. At the end of 1941 this brigade was re-formed into the 1st Airlanding Brigade and with the 1st Parachute Brigade formed the 1st Airborne Division. The 1st Airlanding Brigade was to be trained to go to war in gliders. All members of the 1st Airborne Division had to be volunteers and were required to have higher standards of fitness and intelligence than those of a normal field force battalion.
    Perhaps a quote from "BY AIR TO BATTLE”, the Official Account of the British Airborne Divisions (published in 1945), would not be out of place:
    "From the start it was decided that it would he a waste of time and energy to take less well qualified troops to battle by these expensive means. Expensive in every sense. A parachute or a glider can rarely be used on operations more than once and - far more important - their use for the conveying of troops to the scene of conflict involves, as will be seen, meticulous. planning and considerable effort on the part of the Royal Air Force. This is altogether justifiable if the troops are worth their salt, but not otherwise. Thus it is that the airborne soldiers have from the outset been required to reach the very highest standards."
    To meet these exacting standards a number of officers and men had to be replaced and this involved some fairly intensive basic training for their replacements. At the beginning of 1942 I was running the Battalion's Intensive Training Team at Kingsclere, which put every platoon through an intensive battle course which lasted one week and involved day and night training at individual, section and platoon level. At the end of each course a report was submitted: Promotions and, sadly, demotions followed.
    In July, 1942. I was told by the C.O., Lt.-Colonel O. L. Jones ("Jonah" to the troops - a marvellous C.O. who did so much for the Regiment) that in order to give similar intensive training to the intakes for all four glider-borne battalions, I was to set up an "Airlanding Training Company” at Hardwick Hall, where the Airborne Forces Depot and School had already been established.
    The C.O. at Hardwick, Lt.-Colonel Willie Giles of the Ox. and Bucks., a most gentle man of 1st World War vintage, told me that each course should be of eight weeks' duration and that the first intake would arrive in a week's time! But with the cream of Airlanding Brigade as instructors, everything was possible. A mixed bag of colourful characters, Officer and N.C.O. instructors, arrived from the airlanding battalions of the Brigade and on the appointed day we opened the doors for training. Everything was done at the double. The Airlanding Training Company was in business.
    Charles Scruby of the Border Regiment, the Company 2/I.C., ran the current day-to-day training, while I struggled to arrange the next week's programme from a block eight-week syllabus which had been agreed after my first week's efforts.
    Much could be said about escapades with live plastic anti-tank grenades sliding off tank hulls in the dark and live ammunition fired on the Derbyshire moors, but enough has already been written about these commonplace occurrences in wartime battle training. Suffice to say that there was never a dull moment.
    Hardwick Hall today is placid and peaceful, but in those wartime days it was a hectic, bustling place, with sounds of gunfire and explosions day and night. Today the lake looks serene, but in those days it was part of a very large assault course and it was here that a young officer instructor, as always with a loaded Sten gun in his hand, wounded a recruit and at the same time shot one of the resident swans. A claim for a right and left was disallowed. Recruits did no flying, but there was a fuselage of a Horsa glider, which for purposes of morale was used for very basic emplaning and deplaning drills.
    There was no difficulty in failing those who couldn't make the grade. A visit would be arranged for the recruit to see the resident "trick cyclist” and an entry on the sick report would state blandly, but very effectively, "unfit for airborne duties". Successful completion of the course was marked by the award of the coveted red beret.
    There were few amenities, but on a Saturday evening Chesterfield would be enlivened by truck loads of vigorous and thirsty young men. In camp there was a good sprinkling of attractive A.T.S. girls, one of whom was to marry a future Colonel Commandant of the Prince of Wales' Division!
    One day in March, 1943, I was told to wind up the Airlanding Training Company and that all instructors were to return to their parent battalions on Salisbury Plain. When I got back to Carter Barracks I was told that the 1st Airborne Division was bound for North Africa. This, of course, was Top Secret, but we didn't know that this move was to be the prelude to the invasion of Sicily.
    We who had the privilege to train these superb men like to think that the basic training given at Hardwick may perhaps have helped them when they faced the enemy in Sicily and at Arnhem.
    Should you visit Hardwick Hall you will see, well to the left of the noble entrance, adorned by the initials of Bess of Hardwick, a very small entrance. That is, or was, the entrance to the Butler's Quarters. It was here for those eight months that my wife and I lived in ducal splendour - Downstairs.


    Accounts can be confusing and contradicting as the above one makes it appear as there is only lake. Was there a Horsa fuselage? And course length goes from 2 weeks up to 8 weeks.

    2016-03-17 13.47.45.jpg
    I mentioned a few posts ago of being told about the tree being used as target practice so had a dig in the stump last month and found this lot. As the tree died and the centre hollowed out they fell to the bottom and then the tree fell. I still can't believe the zip-line firing that the ranger was told. The tree would have been between the concrete bases facing Miller's Pond.


    Cheers
     
  8. Packhow75

    Packhow75 Senior Member

    Does anyone know what wireless set would have been used by OBLI to send the famous "Ham and Jam" message from Pegasus Bridge?

    Given a glider landing and then the distance they needed to transmit the message... was "Ham and Jam" broadcast verbally as the films would like us to believe... or infact transmitted via morse?

    Sets about that I can think of...

    WS19 - Vehicle set - not portable - so not an option IMO
    WS22 - Man-pack... though IMO too big and bulky for a coup-de-main assault force to consider, but should have the range required
    WS18/68 - Man-packs - Perhaps, but did they have the range required?
    WS38 - Man-pack - unlikely as too small with limited range
    WS76 - Man-pack - had the range, but Morse only

    Anyone know please?

    Many thanks

    Tim
     
  9. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Glen,

    After viewing the group photo of Officers at Hardwick Hall assembled to sit with Major General Browning on a visit in 1942 I was curious as to how the Airlanding Training Company fit into the picture. Brigadier Hargroves' short account tells the story very well. The company was only active at the Depot for about 8 or 9 months which wouldn't allow for many 8 week courses unless they were overlapped. I would think not many of these men, being airlanding troops, would have gone onto Ringway for the more thorough parachute course. As an airlanding training facility I can see them using a horsa fuselage as described so I guess we should be on the look out for one of those.

    https://paradata.org.uk/media/4232?mediaSection=Group+photos&mediaItem=2529

    Major R.L. Hargroves, OC Airlanding Training Coy.jpg

    Later ...

    Edit: I saw Tim's post and thought I was in the wrong thread ... :lol:
     
    brithm likes this.
  10. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Cee

    Yes, as all potential Airborne troops, paras and glider borne, had to go through the selection process at Hardwick, there would have been Horsa fuselages as part of the training.

    I've read accounts from those who were there that 'Ham...Jam' was verbal.

    I bought the booklet 'By Air to Battle' a few weeks ago off EBay for £3 and half of that was postage! There was another one for £76!!!! It's a great read. It mentions the Central Landing Establishment and the Airborne Forces School and Depot but doesn't say where they were. Understandable as the booklet was published in 1945 and says at the time of writing the men who crossed the Rhine were still in action.

    If you look at the photo of Swimming Instruction in Great Pond you can see three well-trodden paths on the bank.

    2016-04-02 16.39.21.jpg
    The left one.

    2016-04-02 16.31.23.jpg
    The next two cut quite deep.

    2016-04-02 16.40.42.jpg
    The two from the top looking down.

    I've been interested in these as Ray, the volunteer ranger and knew the camp as a kid, insists on Great Pond being used for ropework. So I had a look on the edge of the pond and found concrete.

    2016-04-02 16.30.49.jpg

    2016-04-02 16.39.01.jpg

    The pond was originally edged with dressed stone but most of that has gone. The concrete is close to the end of the two deep-cut paths and maybe this is where the ropes began and imagine thousands of ammo booted soldiers running up and down the bank creating these gorges. Great Pond is quite wide and I can't find anything substantial on the other side. More detective work needed.

    Cheers
     
  11. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Evening

    2016-04-07 16.06.20.jpg
    This is roughly the location of Cee's Trapeze 3 pic.

    Been doing a bit of detective work regarding this account I posted earlier:
    In the book "Para" by Peter Harclerode (Orion 1998) there are brief mentions of Hardwick Hall, there's a story how Hardwick came to acquire a tank used for exercises. It's battered remains stood on the left hand side of where the driveway enters the 'gardens'.

    However, in 1945, there were no gardens along that airstrip. It had all been flattened. On the left hand side, where the tank stood were two huts, billets alongside each other, under a stand of trees. While immediately across from the entrance, and airstrip, was the ablution block. The right hand side of the Airstrip was 'Out of Bounds". It was where the Hall stood, itself a grey, square barrack-like looking building.


    Now I know there was a tank up at the Hall as Ray, the volunteer ranger, played on it as a kid.


    2016-04-14 15.53.38.jpg

    This is the road after the car park charge blue kiosk. On the left is the old car park (old orchard; it's in here you'll find the Memorial Stone and where the Memorial Day takes place) and the Hall entrance is further on. Ray says the tank was on this stretch of glass I'm stood on. The account above may mean the 'gardens' as the orchard as entrance is a bit further on and the tank could have been on the left. But can't work out what the account means about the gardens on the airstrip etc. unless there was another tank.


    2016-04-14 16.35.47.jpg

    The garages would have started near the tree on the right and all in front would have been the forecourt concreting around the existing trees.


    2016-04-14 16.39.51.jpg

    I think the garage would have ended level with the second two trees. The tree on the left did have on the other side of the track but has fallen since. They are on the overhead photo.


    2016-04-14 16.33.58.jpg

    This time of year the field is full of ewes and lambs and caught a couple sleeping. Gotta be a pun there somewhere but can't think of one.


    Cheers
     
  12. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Hi

    Today was the Airborne Forces Memorial Day at Hardwick. A very pleasant day in spite of what the weather forecaster's were saying.

    2016-05-15 11.52.06.jpg
    This was the line for the service.

    2016-05-15 12.02.45.jpg
    The Memorial Stone.

    2016-05-15 12.03.05.jpg
    The middle wreath.

    2016-05-15 12.55.24.jpg
    I was desperate to talk to a WW2 veteran and collared this guy. He is Tom Hicks. He told me he was at the camp in 1942. He couldn't tell me a lot about his experience, understandably as he was only there two weeks. He mentioned Nissan huts and doing everything at the double. His pal did mention Tom's son, Norman, had written a book about him, 'Captured at Arnhem: From Railwayman to Paratrooper'. I did a search and found Tom on Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIi5Pmpl09o.
    I shook his hand and told how grateful and privileged it was to meet him. He didn't seem too fussed!

    I spoke to a guy who visited just to see the Dakota fly-past. He knew nothing about the camp or airfield as I'm sure many of the Hall visitors didn't and just wander into the old carpark to see what was happening.
    So, the once a year event when the Airborne Forces are remembered at Hardwick is over and the Memorial Stone locked away from the public.

    View attachment video-2016-05-15-12-23-15.mp4
    Hope people can view this. Imagine a stick of troopers jumping out and attempting to land on the airfield.

    Cheers
     
    dbf and brithm like this.
  13. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Glen,

    Thank you so much for the report on Airborne Forces Memorial Day at Hardwick Hall. Your video came through fine ... :)

    Regards ...
     
    brithm likes this.
  14. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Hi

    Just a few more finds.

    2016-05-17 16.50.48.jpg
    I've known about this drain for a while so decided to uncover it a bit more. There were only a few red bricks on the left exposed and hadn't been filled in. You can see a pipe in there.

    2016-05-17 16.51.08.jpg
    This is looking down towards the sewerage works as the drain is angled. It would have served the buildings nearby Blingsby Gate which I have been told is where the officers billeted.

    2016-05-21 13.50.25.jpg
    This is the sign you'll see as you enter the road to the Hall near Stainsby Mill...

    2016-05-21 13.50.35.jpg
    ... and shows a pic of one of the instructors in one of the pics posted earlier.

    Cheers
     
  15. Guy Hudson

    Guy Hudson Looker-upper

    "Having returned from North Africa and completed my parachute training at Ringway, Manchester in January 1944, we were at a small camp near Chesterfield called High Han waiting for assignment to units"

    This paratrooper refers to a holding unit at a small camp at "High Han". I am assuming that he is refering to the village of Higham which is on the road to Alfreton. Have you seen any references to another camp in this area of Derbyshire?
    Guy
     
  16. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Hi

    Wow! Someone else has posted!

    Higham is about 7 1/2 miles down the A61 from Chesterfield. I've only been looking at where the Airborne were based and only know of Clay Cross. I'm sure there were other camps in the area.

    Glen
     
  17. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Hi

    Been in Chesterfield library over the last few weeks (not everyday day!) going through micro-film of the local paper The Derbyshire Times looking for any Hardwick related articles from 1941 on. I wasn't expecting 'New Airborne Camp Opens at Hardwick'. Nothing stood out until April 1943 when I found two articles in consecutive weeks. The library has one digital scanner for micro-film so I have jpgs of the scans.

    Hardwick Princess visit 23.4.43.jpg
    Princess Royal at the time was Mary, the eldest daughter of George V. Notice the article only mentions North Midlands as the location.

    Hardwick Princess visit 23.4.43 - Copy - Copy.jpg
    This the photo that I've enhanced.

    Hardwick Chapel 30.4.43 - Copy (4) - Copy.jpg
    I've read so much about the Chapel and now a photo of it... be it the outside only. The article does tell more about the purpose of the camp. I suppose with the threat of invasion over it was time to tell what its purpose was.

    Hardwick Chapel 30.4.43 - Copy - Copy.jpg
    Now to work out its location. Trees, a larger building and a bank? in the background and the procession going downhill. I have an idea where it could be, will post later. Another job for you Cee?!

    Hardwick Chapel 30.4.43 - Copy (2).jpg
    Wonder where the items described ended up? Surely they were removed when the Army left in 1946 because the Chapel was then used by the Poles I'm assuming were Catholic.
    I know the Airborne museum is at Duxford. I've been a few times but not for 5 or 6 years so didn't take a great interest. Is there anything there about/from the camp?

    I've got 1944 and 45 to go through then 46 onward. I'm sure there must be reports about the Polish Resettlement Camp and hopefully photos.

    Cheers
     
    Cee likes this.
  18. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Glen,

    Very interesting newspaper articles. It's such a shame the Chapel didn't survive as it would have been a real draw in the post war years. I'll hazard a guess on the location. It's a narrow building with a vestibule entrance at the one end. There are roofs to be seen in the background and side at various angles to the Chapel. The lane to the side curls away from the entrance.

    Possible Chapel Location.jpg

    Regards ...
     
  19. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Hi Cee

    You are good at this! I have to agree that your deductions seem spot on. Are you a private detective by any chance?!

    I think I posted earlier that I'd read that locals wanted to save the chapel but as with many camps, WW1 and 2, post-war thinking was 'not needed so remove them'. The problem with the chapel is that it would have been isolated and open to vandalism and neglect.

    Cheers
     
  20. BruceLee230

    BruceLee230 Well-Known Member

    Hi

    Still searching through micro-film of the Derbyshire Times. Nothing in 1944 and 45 then a mention in 1946.

    0002 25.1.46.jpg
    25.1.46

    0003 29.3.46.jpg
    29.3.46 This is a great article.

    0005 3.5.46.jpg
    3.5.46

    0006 12.7.46.jpg
    0007 12.7.46.jpg
    Both 12.7.46

    0012 16.8.46.jpg
    16.8.46
    This isn't the camp itself but maybe what the Nissan Huts were converted into using 'foamed slag'! The Poles were at the camp for at least another ten years, not the few weeks the soldiers were, so the huts needed to be homes.

    I hoping to find an article about the camp with photos.

    See ya later
     
    Cee likes this.

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